The ties that bind
by ScareGlow
Summary: After Stop Team Go and another fallout with Shego, Drakken reaches rock bottom, but then, there's always a silver lining... SPOILER WARNING! R&R please!


Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible or any of the show's characters (unfortunately). This fic is written solely to entertain; I do not earn anything (except reviews).

AN: This takes place directly after "Stop Team Go".

The story was inspired by the recent discussions about Drakken on RonStoppable dot net. I hope you'll enjoy! I might come back and change some details here and there. As always, feedback is highly appreciated!

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Dr. Drakken was happily munching on a pickle, while Shego was filing her nails, when suddenly the intruder alert sounded. As the villains looked up at the huge view-screen, they could see none other than Steve Barkin, who was standing in front of the main door with flowers in his hand.

"Stevie? What's he doing here?" Shego exclaimed. 'And how did he know where to find me?' she mentally added. Then she remembered that she had used this address on her application form for her job at Middleton High.

"Oh, Stevie, is it?" Drakken asked scathingly, bringing her out of her thoughts. "Well, he's intruding, that's what he's doing!"

Just as he was about to push the button that would release the newly acquired hounds, Shego stopped him with a gesture.

"No, no! Wait, wait!" She was honestly curious what the high school teacher wanted.

Her curiosity was answered when Mr. Barkin produced a guitar he had kept behind his back, kneeled down and began to sing "Quit playing games with my head" in a rendition that made her skin crawl. Once she had bitingly suggested to her boss to sing the world into submission, but Barkin definitely had the ability to actually do it. With a mighty shudder, she reached for the button Drakken had intended to push mere seconds before.

"Urgh… On second thought…" With that, she released the hounds. She turned to sit down again, only to find her employer staring at her. "What?"

Drakken crossed his arms. "So this is what you were up to? While I struggled with operation gherkin –"

"A glass of pickles you couldn't open!" Shego interrupted him, almost laughing.

"That's not important!" the blue-skinned scientist bellowed. "What's important is that were gone without notice! I couldn't even reach you on your cell phone! I had to search for you personally!"

"Well, you found me, didn't you?" Shego replied with a nonchalance she didn't really feel.

"I did indeed!" Drakken hollered. "What in the name of evil did you do in Go City of all places, in front of Go Tower in the company of Kim Possible no less?"

Shego squirmed for a moment. She didn't want to tell him what had happened, but it was clear he would insist on some explanation. As usual when she felt cornered, her temper snapped. "It's none of your business! What I do in my free time…"

"It wasn't your free time!" Drakken interrupted loudly. "You're working for me and…"

"Fine!" Shego yelled. "Then take those days off my holidays! In fact, I'll take another day off!" With that, she stormed out of the room.

Drakken stood there for a moment, before he sat down with a sigh. Why could nothing ever go as he wanted? He shot the glass of pickles a nasty glare.

"It's all your fault, you rebellious, irritating piece of junk!" His sadness turning into anger, he picked up the glass and threw it against the wall, where it shattered and spilled the rest of its content on the floor. He didn't know why exactly, but for some reason, this latest outburst of his assistant made his temper truly and completely snap. He had had countless shouting matches with Shego before, but this one finally was the last straw, the one that led to an explosion that had been building up for a very long time.

"It's not fair! I don't deserve this! All I wanted was a simple explanation, and I can't even get that! Why? Why can't I get a simple answer to a question I had every right to ask? Why can't anything go right? I want to take over the world, but I can't even get a stupid glass of pickles open! Why do I always fail? All I wanted was to have a few friends, to gain the respect of my fellow scientists and to build robots! That's not too much to ask, is it? And where has it led me? I'm all alone in a stupid lair, with blue skin and a scar and nothing to show for it!" In his rage, he picked up the chair he'd sat on and threw it into the huge view-screen. The screen broke with a loud noise, sparks flying everywhere.

"I'm so sick of it! I'm sick of failing! I'm sick of being laughed at!" He slumped down on the floor.

"I'm sick of it all," he murmured, his rage having been replaced by an all consuming sadness. He had never been one to give up, but in this moment, he somehow felt more defeated than ever before. He sat there for a moment, before he reached in an inner pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a photograph. He looked at it silently for a moment.

"At least I had you. Sure, you always made fun of my plans, but at least you never just left me, and sometimes you even said something nice." He paused for a moment. "Or perhaps it was sarcastic, I really can't tell the difference." He sighed. "Anyway, I thought we were an evil family… I mean, sure, I paid you, but after all these years…" His voice trailed off, and he slowly shook his head. "I guess I should have listened to my mother. She always said I should get a good job, find a nice girl and start a family… but no, I had to pursue my dreams." He chuckled bitterly. "And now it's too late for me to change my ways…" He sighed again. "You're probably doing the right thing… going out, meeting a nice and normal guy… even though he really can't sing." A small smile played across his lips for a moment before his expression grew sad and somewhat tired again. "You're still young enough to find your place in the world…" He looked intently at the picture in his hand for a moment, studying it. Finally, he smiled. "You'll make it, I'm sure of it. And if you decide to stick to villainy, I believe you'll achieve great things one day… maybe even take over the world…" He stood up, taking a deep breath, and looked fondly at the photograph. "Perhaps you'll even remember the blue-skinned guy who gave you your first job as a villain…" He nodded, as if to reassure himself, then put the picture back into the inner pocket of his lab coat. He took a moment to collect himself before looking around the room. "This place is a mess…" He turned towards the door. "Well, I'll take care of it tomorrow." He was extremely tired and decided to go to bed early.

When he woke up the next morning, he felt refreshed and much better. "Ah, another day, another chance to take over the world!" he exclaimed with a huge smile. It faltered quickly, though, at the thought of Shego. She wouldn't be there to aid him today... With a grunt, he shook his head, trying to banish that thought, and hurried into the bathroom to get ready. Evil schemes didn't just appear on his desk, after all.

When he entered the main room of his lair, he gasped. The large view-screen he had destroyed the day before had been replaced, and even the broken glass of pickles was gone. Even more surprisingly, Shego was sitting in one of the chairs, reading one of her magazines.

"Sh… Shego?"

The green-skinned woman looked up. "Morning, Dr. D. So, what's the plan for today?" she greeted in a down-to-business tone.

Drakken blinked. "Err… Not that I'm complaining, but didn't you take today off?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, well, I changed my mind. You got a problem with that?"

"No, no, of course not," he hurried to assure her. Then he looked at the view-screen again. "Say, what happened here? I mean, how did the new screen get here?"

"Well, I had a new one installed, seeing as the old one was broken," she replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Drakken's eyes narrowed. "Alright, Shego, what's going on here? You never replace things, you break them!"

She looked at him expressionlessly. "You'd rather I destroy the new view-screen?"

"No!" He sighed exasperatedly. "I just want to know what's going on!"

They looked at each other for a moment, locked in a silent duel, before Shego finally broke the gaze and looked away. "If you must know…" She sighed. "I heard you."

"What?!" Drakken paled considerably.

"Yesterday, after I'd left…" she said quietly, still not meeting his gaze. "I noticed I'd forgotten my nail file, so I came back to get it. That's when I heard."

"Oh." It took Drakken a moment to get his mind around that. "Oh." He gulped, then attempted a smile. "Well, you know me, Shego! Nothing like a good rant! He he! I couldn't get through the day without one!" He tried to sound exuberant, but when Shego finally looked up, he fell silent.

"Do you know how many job offers I got from other villains over the years?" she asked, completely ignoring his weak attempt at back-pedalling.

He raised his mono-brow, unsure of where she was going with this. "Umm, a few?"

She snorted. "I got offers from almost every villain. Some were good, some were even great, some were downright ludicrous." She shivered at the memory of Frugal Lucre offering her a job with payment in the form of Smarty Mart goods.

Drakken's jaw fell. "Really?"

"Really," she confirmed. "You know why I didn't accept any of them?"

"Uhh… I pay you more?" he asked uncertainly.

She laughed. "Good one, Dr. D! No…" She calmed down again. "No, seriously. Dementor offered twice as much money, and most of the other offers had equal or better payment than what I get now."

He seemed completely dumbfounded by now. "So… so why didn't you leave?" he finally asked in a very careful tone.

She looked at him for a moment, as if deciding what she should answer. Finally, she spoke. "First of all, while you have your quirks and can be really, and I mean really, annoying, the others aren't much better; in fact, a lot of them are even worse." She made a pause, but finally continued after a sigh, her shoulders slumping ever so slightly. "But the main thing, I guess, is… You don't treat me like a tool or a freak of nature. I know you'd never hurt me or take advantage of me. I mean, the worst thing you had me do when I was under mind control was look for a freakin' dodo bird!" She almost had to laugh at the memory. "I know I can count on you when I'm in trouble, and I know you're there for me… even when I really don't want it." She shrugged. "And I guess I've just grown used to you and don't like change too much."

There was a long pause before Drakken finally found his voice, speaking with a huge smile on his face. "Shego… That's… that's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me…" He suddenly paused, twiddling his fingers. "You were being honest, weren't you? Or were you sarcastic? You know I never can tell…"

Shego sighed and rolled her eyes, but had to smile nonetheless. "I'd say 90 percent honesty, 10 percent sarcasm," she quietly said. "So I guess I won't have to find me a new place in the world, right, Dr. D?"

His wide smile returned. "No, you won't, Shego."

She smiled for a moment, before cocking a suggestive eye-brow. "Doesn't mean you shouldn't raise my salary, though."

"What?" he cried. "Shego, money doesn't grow on trees, you know!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty aware of that; after all, I'm the one who steals it for you," she retorted.

"Bah! You know very well that I steal quite a lot of the money myself!" he replied indignantly.

"In that case it shouldn't be a problem to steal some more, right?" she asked, smirking.

"You are a very greedy woman, Shego!" he accused.

"What can I say, I like the green." Her smirk widened.

"In that case, I will happily give you Greenland once I've conquered the world!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

"Iceland, Dr. D! And don't change the topic! We were discussing my raise!"

"Alright, alright! Five percent!" he finally caved in.

"Deal."

He looked at her with big eyes. "Seriously? No trying to get more?"

She grinned. "Wouldn't want to exploit family, Dr. D." She let that statement sink in for a moment before playfully continuing. "On the other hand, if you want to give me more…"

"Ah, ah! Five percent is more than enough!" he quickly interrupted.

"Right. So, what's the new plan for world conquest anyway?"

"Oooooh, you'll love it, Shego!"

With sparkling eyes and freshly refreshed self-confidence, Dr. Drakken began to rant about his new project. Shego mostly tuned him out, but instead of reading her magazine or filing her nails, she watched her boss as he went on about his latest plan. For some reason, it filled her with pride to see him back like this, knowing that it was mostly due to her. Perhaps they were closer than she'd thought. Perhaps they really were some sort of evil family. She smiled at that thought, and remembering her raise, her smile even widened. Now this was a win-win if ever there was one.


End file.
